White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus)

[order] PASSERIFORMES | [family] Vireonidae | [latin] Vireo griseus | [UK] White-eyed Vireo | [FR] Vireo aux yeux blancs | [DE] Weissaugen-Vireo | [ES] Vireo ojiblanco | [NL] Witoogvireo

Subspecies

Physical charateristics

Note the combination of yellow “spectacles,” whitish throat. Additional points are two wing bars, yellowish sides, white eyes.

Listen to the sound of White-eyed Vireo

[audio:http://www.aviflevoland.nl/sounddb/W/White-eyed Vireo.mp3]

Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto

Range

North America, Middle America : East

Habitat

Wood edges, brush, brambles, undergrowth.
Breeds in various kinds of dense low growth, including briar tangles on low swampy ground, shrubby thickets of maple, wild plum, willow, and other saplings in overgrown pastures, and scrub in open woods or near forest edges. Winters in a wide array of si
milar habitats.

Reproduction

Male sings incessantly from early spring to late summer to defend nesting territory. In courtship, male displays to female by fluffing plumage, spreading tail, and uttering a whining call.
Nest:
Placed low (within 25′ of ground) in shrub or sapling. Nest is supported by the rim woven onto a horizontal, forked twig. Both parents help build nest, a deep, hanging cup made of twigs, roots, shreds of bark, grass stems, leaves, plant down, lichen, moss
, sometimes fragments of wasp nests. Nest is bound with spider webs, lined with fine grass and fibers.
Eggs: 4, sometimes 3-5. White with specks of brown or black. Incubation is by both parents, 12-15 days. Nests are commonly parasitized by cowbirds.
Young: Both parents feed the nestlings. Age at which young leave the nest is not well known. 1 brood per year in the north, 2 in the south.

Feeding habits

Insects and berries.
In the breeding season, takes almost entirely insects, and nearly one-third of diet then may be caterpillars, moths, and butterflies. Diet also includes true bugs, scale insects, many kinds of beetles, ants, wasps, bees, grasshoppers; also spiders, snails
, and occasionally small lizards. During migration and in winter, also eats berries and small fruits.
Behavior: Forages by moving actively among twigs and branches in dense low cover, searching for insects among the foliage.

Conservation

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migration

Eastern United States. Winters southern United States to Nicaragua. Casual or accidental in Southwest. Migration: Present all year in many southern areas. Farther north, appears relat
ively early in spring and lingers fairly late in fall compared to most vireos.

Distribution map